S.E.H Kelly

[Sneaky Pete]

And here's a few new witterings about another very fine cloth — one arguably more suitable for this time of year:

https://www.sehkelly.com/words/2018/07/topical-tropical-topographical/

Paul

I love your writing as much as I love your clothes (or think I do - haven't managed to buy any yet, although I hope to change that soon). It's not just the subject matter, which indicates a deep thoughtfulness about design, fit, fabric, etc but the style too. Really good writing is rare, especially when it comes to clothes.

 

[sehkelly]

I love your writing as much as I love your clothes (or think I do - haven't managed to buy any yet, although I hope to change that soon). It's not just the subject matter, which indicates a deep thoughtfulness about design, fit, fabric, etc but the style too. Really good writing is rare, especially when it comes to clothes.

Cheers. Very kind.

I’ve always enjoyed the discourse across Styleforum, but I do agree that there isn’t as much written with thought about clothing as perhaps there should, especially given all the thought that clearly goes into it.

I’ve had some spare time to update http://sehkelly.com/words/ over the past week, and intend to plough on with it next week, too.

 

[sehkelly]

We've been having some fun this month making shirts with cloth that isn't quite what you'd expect ... quite.

The first of these is a type of cloth we've been pursuing for quite a while — namely a very lightweight material, good in "properly hot weather" and but which is also quite interesting. What we've found is a very unassuming cloth known as parachute cotton.

It is, in the words of the man that makes it, "used for parachutes and ejector seats in fighter planes. The reason it shines is that it is made from the finest Egyptian cotton, which is mercerised, like sewing thread, which also makes it very strong."

It is by far the finest and lightest material we have ever used — even more so than the light Irish linens that we made shirts with a few years ago. And though it looks very plain, it does have a very subtle lustre to it, because of the mercerisation mentioned above.

We introduced it in large part to satisfy a demand of our customers in Japan, where it gets very, very hot and humid in summer. And, now that we're having a similar sort of summer here in London, I'm very glad we did.

 

[sehkelly]

Here's another of those fairly unassuming materials we've used to make shirts this summer.

It's a linen, and a plain one at that -- but it is very fine yarn, a weighty weave, and is mercerised and sanforised. The former creates a very clean, lustred surface, and the latter stabilising the cloth and means, unlike most linen, it doesn't shrink or otherwise misbehave.

It's tailoring linen, in effect: typically used for making suits. It also makes a linen shirt with no little amount of heft and authority, and one low on the "crease-propensity" scale. Not as light and breathable as lighter linens ... but good in spring and autumn. It is a match for some of the heavier jackets we've lined up for post-summer, such as the corduroy work jackets we're currently making -- and the idea of things being suitable beyond a narrow seasonal timescale is something that we've been working slowly towards for some time.

Paul

 

[JackL2]

Any news or new pictures of the tielocken? Thanks, Paul!

 

[sehkelly]

Any news or new pictures of the tielocken? Thanks, Paul!

It is very much at hand, and is due to be cut within the next couple of weeks — ergo, probably complete this time next month.

Shall I drop you a line when they're done?

And I'll post some photographs of the cloth, cut or otherwise, in the next day or two. It is a very subtle Donegal tweed: a birdseye. From a distance it looks very similar to the only previously shared images of the tielocken, but up close, the pattern is slightly more bold.

 

[JackL2]

It is very much at hand, and is due to be cut within the next couple of weeks — ergo, probably complete this time next month.

Shall I drop you a line when they're done?

And I'll post some photographs of the cloth, cut or otherwise, in the next day or two. It is a very subtle Donegal tweed: a birdseye. From a distance it looks very similar to the only previously shared images of the tielocken, but up close, the pattern is slightly more bold.

Yes, please! I appreciate that, I'd very much like to stay posted. The old fabric looked great, and I"m sure this birdseye is more of the same.

 

[DuckOB]

Hi Paul. You mention cord work jackets. Any swatch colors you share? I have been looking for a corduroy jacket and can’t find one I like

Thx

 

[sehkelly]

Hi Paul. You mention cord work jackets. Any swatch colors you share? I have been looking for a corduroy jacket and can’t find one I like

Thx

We're making them in a tan colour (at the redder end of the tan spectrum) and black. The corduroy is quite thick, and quite wide of wale. A good, hard-wearing chunky corduroy.

And the style will be the same as https://www.sehkelly.com/work-jacket-in-cotton-sail-cloth-in-slate-blue/ — i.e. with the collar and the recessed armhole.

The other new thing is that they'll likely have butcher's buttons: our first garments to do so.

They'll be done by the end of the month, all being well.

Paul

 

[sehkelly]

Yes, please! I appreciate that, I'd very much like to stay posted. The old fabric looked great, and I"m sure this birdseye is more of the same.

Here it is.

Quite resistant to being photographed in the poor light of the factory, hence a few variations of the same thing.

Paul

 

[JackL2]

That's perfect. Are there any pics of tielocken samples from the front, just to see the full design? Regardless, I think I'm definitely in for this when it's complete next month.

 

[sehkelly]

That's perfect. Are there any pics of tielocken samples from the front, just to see the full design? Regardless, I think I'm definitely in for this when it's complete next month.

Sorry for the delay — I'll see what I can do ...

I did photograph a toile of the tielocken quite extensively, for posterity, a few months ago, and I'm sure there's a front-on image there somewhere.

 

[sehkelly]

Some photographs of our new peacoat, here, which this time we've made in a merino hopsack from West Yorkshire.

It's a splendid cloth, it really is — heavy, dense, but not too bulky.

Thus the peacoat arguably looks more elegant than last year's nigh-bulletproof model.

Full of character, too, the cloth — all bobbly basketweave, multiple shades of the same colour, and a certain fuzziness. Atypical of merino, that last quality, and a result of a very light and personality-preserving finish.

 

[Alexidb]

Whats the word on shipping to the US and VAT?

 

[sehkelly]

(Double post)